Asmara, Sept. 17, 2007 -- Somalia's transitional government says it has signed a reconciliation agreement aimed at stabilizing the country and uniting Somali clans. The agreement in Saudi Arabia was signed by the interim president and prime minister but was immediately rejected by the Islamist opposition.

The head of the Islamic Courts organization, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmad, told the BBC Arabic Service that the Mogadishu and Jeddah talks did not represent a serious effort to achieve Somali reconciliation.

He said: "There was no conference for reconciliation in Somalia. It was a conference of division."

And he added: "There is no legitimate government in Somalia. What is there is occupation."

Saudi role

A member of Saudi Arabia's Shura (Consultative) Council, Mohammad Al Zofa, defended the decision not to invite the Somali opposition to the Jeddah conference.

He said: “The opposition may be part of the Somali people, not necessarily the main part. Those who met in Jeddah make up the majority of the Somali people which is seeking a solution for its country's problems."

"The opposition, such as the Islamist oppositions everywhere, sadly do not even have any vision of solutions to the problems in hotspot areas in the Arab and Muslim world," added Mohamed Al Zofa.

He added that the agreement reached in Jeddah included a call by the Somali president for an Arab-African peacekeeping force to be sent to Somalia under United Nations leadership.